Zenith Data Chief Resigns, Cites Shift In Responsibilities

December 14, 1990|By Stanley Ziemba.

John P. Frank resigned as president and chief executive officer of Mt. Prospect-based Zenith Data Systems, the company announced Thursday.

Frank, 52, joined the microcomputer manufacturer in 1981, soon after it was established by Zenith Electronics Corp., and had been president since August 1987. He assumed the additional responsibility of chief executive officer in January of this year, less than a month after Groupe Bull of France acquired the firm from Zenith for $635 million.

In a letter to the company`s employees, Frank said he was leaving because the added responsibilities he took on when he was named chief executive took him away from doing some of the things he had enjoyed doing before.

``Over the course of the year . . . the requirements of my position have undergone a substantial change, in many instances taking me away from some of the functions that I have traditionally enjoyed the most,`` he wrote.

Frank spent most of his career at Zenith in various sales and marketing positions, and Zenith Data insiders said Frank has told them that he especially missed the close contact he had with customers. They said that his departure from the firm was amicable and not completely unexpected.

Frank said in his letter that he met ``several months ago`` with Roland Pampel, chairman of Zenith Data Systems, and with Francis Lorentz, chairman of Groupe Bull, to discuss his concerns.

``After much discussion, it became clear to all of us that perhaps the best solution might very well be that I leave the company,`` Frank said.

He added that he actually made the decision to leave ``a few months ago,`` but stayed on, at the company`s request, until a successor could be found. ``Now that a successor is expected to be announced in the very near future, I felt that it was time to make this decision public,`` Frank said.